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practice we do not perceive; nor its par-
ticular beauty or advantage.

The first stanza we present:
Beneath a mountain, whose stupendous head
Defied the four winds of the firmament,
A gallant knight, in glitt'ring arms array'd,
His daring soul on bold adventure bent,
Check'd his proud steed, with smoking foam
besprent;

For lo! a cavern in his way appear'd,
Near which a hermit told his beads intent-
A mystic sage, for magic pow'rs rever'd-
Tall was his aged frame and white his waving
beard.

After which, excepting a similar stanza at the commencement of each canto, and two or three tales or songs, the verse is our common English heroic. The knight, whose name is Rinaldo, informs the hermit, Altagrand, that, in a distant island, far south and far in the sea, Armigrand and Isabella, the king and qeeen, had an only child, Crystalina, with whom he had fallen in love: that Crystalina would not yield her hand till he had Signalized himself in battle: that for this purpose he followed the profession of arms, till he was entitled to receive the prize of his military valour and exploits. On reaching the isle he was informed by the king that nine days before, his daughter had disappeared, and no one could conjecture her fate. Rinaldo further relates that he had been for a long time and in numberless places in search of her, without success: at length, hearing of a seer who was endued with magic powers, he had hither directed his course, and met with success in finding Altagrand.

Rinaldo now entreats the hermit to inform him where he shall find his mistress. The hermit smites the earth three times with his wand, and MAHU, a horrible phantom "from the brimstone Jake," makes his appearance. He is thus described.

And in the midst a fiery demon came
Hell-black he stood, and fearful to behold!
Fiercely around his fiery eyeball roll'd,
Like shooting meteors in a dusky glen,
Or rushlights hovering o'er an oozy fen.
Ghastly he grinn'd; unsheath'd his talons bare,
Writh'd his huge frame and shook his snaky
hair,

Fapp'd his black wings, and brush'd the creep-
ing flame

From his grim face and salamander frame. The hermit informs Mahu of the strange disappearance of Crystalina, and directs him to find her, giving him at the same time a magic ring, by which he might ascertain her; as on her finger, and on hers only, the ring would become gold. Mahu departs. The hermit relates a tale of a knight and lady. We are surprised that a poet whose verses, relative to metre and language, are generally so correct,

should not feel disgust in his ear, at the
obsolete use of do, doth, did, &c.

The fierce-eyed owl did on them scowl;
The bat play'd round on leathern wing,
The coal-black wolf did at them howl,
The coal-black raven did croak and sing
And o'er them flap his dusky wing.

There is no fierceness in the eye of an
owl, nor scowling. We never knew a
raven that could both sing and croak.
The dusky wing of a coal-black raven!
Mahu returns, and relates the items of
his ill success.
his "coal-black magic book,” and
The hermit then opens

'Some spell he conn'd of cabalistic lore;' on which his lyre, self-moved, informs them that Crystalina has been carried off by the king of the fairies

To golden climes of subterranean day.

The hermit gives Rinaldo directions by which to find fairy land, and avoid temptations: also a spear, buckler, and

cross.

In the second canto the knight descends to fairy land, through a rent in the earth. The palace of Oberon is discovered on an island. Rinaldo meditates sult, determines first to try the effect of an attack on the king, but, fearing the reartifice. He is invited to a banquet, but refuses to partake. A nymph attempts

to seduce him: he shakes her from his errand. The king orders him to leave arms. He makes known to Oberon his fairy land; or suffer a thousand years imprisonment in a dungeon, without light, food, or sleep. Rinaldo defies him.

A sylvan lake and elysian groves appear: in the lake the most beautiful damsels are wantoning. Some of the descriptions here will remind the reader of similar ones in the Lusiad of Camoens in the Isle of Venus. The knight resists every temptation.

In the third canto, Oberon and Titania
appear in a chariot drawn by peacocks;
youths and damsels in attendance.
In robes of green, fresh youths the concert led,
Of tinkling sandals, the melodious sound
Measuring, the while, with nice, emphatic tread
Of smitten timbrels; some, with myrtles crown'd,
Thro' ivory tubes; some blow the bugle free,
Pour the smooth current of sweet melody,
And some, at happy intervals, around,
Some, bending raptur'd o'er their golden lyres,
With trumps sonorous swell the tide of sound;
With cunning fingers fret the tuneful wires;
With rosy lips, some press the syren shell,
And, thro' its crimson labyrinths, impel
Some blow the mellow, melancholy horn,
Mellifluous breath, with artful sink and swell
Which, save the knight, no man of woman boray
E'er heard and fell not senseless to the ground,
With viewless fetters of enchantment bound.
And, spell-struck, drop their golden clusters
The nodding trees its magic influence own
down;

The forests quaver, and elysian bow'rs
With pleasing tremors shed their fragrant flow'rs.
An awful silence, winds and waters keep;
And spell-chain'd brooks, that bound from steep
to steep,

On jutting rocks, delay their headlong leap.
The cross alone, the holy cross disarms
The fairy fiends, and baffles all their charms.
Titania unfolds to the knight the vio-
lence of her passion for him, and com-
plains of Oberon's neglecting her. The
knight confesses he cannot love her, but
persuades her to yield her assistance,
through revenge to her husband, in dis-
covering Crystalina. They depart to-
gether, and the queen shows him the way
to the cavern in which is a secret palace
of Oberon, where Crystalina is confined.
She gives him directions for passing the
green lake, subduing the dragon, &c. He
destroys a giant and seizes his key,

Which rather th' anchor seemed
Of a stout pinnace,

and with this opens a door, which opens
to his sight

A valley gay, of groves and waters fair. At length he discovers the green lake, and the private retreat of Oberon beyond it. He throws into the lake a shell given him by Titania for that purpose, and a pinnace immediately appears. He springs upon the deck, and is conveyed across the lake, when the pinnace disappears. He destroys the giant, and by the assistance of the cross enters the palace and puts the king to flight. Through an ivory door he descends into a secret chamber, where a bird with beautiful plumage sings an air, by which he knows that it is his Crystalina thus transformed. The bird vanishes; a vapour takes its place, which soon is transformed into the real Crystalina.

The fourth canto is occupied with the relation of the escape of the knight and Crystalina, through many difficulties, to the upper air, and their journey to Sky; where they are met by the hermit; by whom they are led into his cavern, where a banquet is provided by necromantic spell. Servants are in waiting, and "viewless minstrels" chaunt the praises of Rinaldo and Crystalina.

The fifth canto commences with accounting for the supernatural powers of Altagrand, by a reference to the hag of Endor, the resuscitation of Samuel and the power of Aaron's rod. This seems too much like placing the credibility of

each on the same foundation. Be it as it may, the poet assures us that the hermit had no infernal aid.

The hermit gives a history of his life, perhaps the best part of the poem, and it is soon discovered that the knight is his dearest friend, whom he had long supson; and Crystalina the daughter of his surmounted by natural and supernatural posed dead. After various difficulties, means, the hermit and the happy couple arrive at the Mermaid isle.

The sixth canto commences with the signs his crown to Rinaldo, whose marmeeting of the parties. Armigrand reriage solemnities with Crystalina are given. Before accepting it, Rinaldo offers a single combat with any one who may challenge it. None appearing, the poem concludes with an account of the festivities attendant on the marriage and coronation.

There is no obscurity in the relation of this fable. Some of the descriptions are beautifu!; and a few passages border on the sublime. The author is often unpardonably careless in his rhymes: He employs as rhymes, sighs and joys-path and death-friend and hand-power and lore-myrrh and rare-again and flamea sight and re-cite-snow and view-now and low-pursues and glows-and very many other words equally inappropriate. Chariot is some times a dissyllable, sometimes a trissyllable: so diamond, heavenly and other words. The stile is frequently changed from the familiar to the solemn: one line may have your and the next thy.

Whatever in some places now, or formerly was considered the most beautiful hair; or whatever may have been said in praise of golden locks, carroty hair is not considered in America as the most beautiful. "Auriferous trees" is a pedantic expression.

There are a few instances of bad gram-
mar arising from inattention.
Behold how freely my o'erflowing eyes
For thee the sweet restorative supplies;

-Is no one happy here but me?
The poem has many little inaccuracies,
which we have not time to notice: yet,
taken as a whole, we must confess that
we have experienced as much pleasure
in its purusal as in reading some British
poems, at present holding a very high
rank.

P.

ART. 3. FLORULA BOSTONIENSIS. A Collection of Plants of Boston and its envis rons, with their generic and specific characters, synonymes, descriptions, place of growth, and time of flowering, and occasional remarks. By Jacob Bigelow, M. D. Boston, 1814. 8vo. pp. 280.

If it is interesting to trace the progress of sciences in the United States, the first attempts in every branch are deserving of our notice, even when they happen to be of a local and limited nature, as in the present instance. In a Flora, all the trees and plants growing in a special region, must be described; but the author of a Florula has no occasion to endeavour to acquaint us with the whole vegetation of a particular district: he may select such share only as may best suit his purpose or leisure, and confine himself thereto, wherefore many incomplete Floras are merely enlarged Florulas. The author of this volume has accordingly adopted, with much propriety, its actual title, since he does not profess to describe all the plants of the neighbourhood of Boston; but attempts merely to elucidate about onefourth thereof, say over 500 species. His object is avowedly to afford an auxiliary aid to the study of botany, by giving simple descriptions of some American plants, detected near Boston. We consider this attempt as the first of its kind in our country, since heretofore no other similar English tract had appeared, except, perhaps, Marshall's imperfect descriptions of the trees and shrubs of North America, and Cutler's account of the plants of Boston, whose many errors have rendered it almost useless: yet we blame exceedingly the author of this Florula for his utter neglect of this latter labour, which was exactly upon the same locality; he has not quoted it in any instance, and not even mentioned it: this happens to be the case likewise with many more American authors, who might have been noticed occasionally. The errors and mistakes of Cutler cannot afford a shadow of excuse to our author for his utter neglect of him, since they ought to have been detected and pointed out. The labour of Cutler was published in the first volume of the Transactions of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and is certainly known to Dr. Bigelow; and though it is shamefully erroneous in nomenclature, yet it is very good in other respects, and ought not only to have been consulted, but accredited.

Let us however consider the omission in this regard, as a mere oversight, and

proceed to the examination of this volume. We perceive in Dr. Bigelow an accurate and perspicuous botanist, who better acquainted with the science of nomenclative and descriptive botany than the worthy Dr. Cutler, enters boldly into the path of popular illustrations, by transferring into our language the characteristic definitions and descriptions of some of our plants: the former are generally translated from late authors, they are new in a few instances only; but are rather short, and not very elaborate which is less objectionable in a local and limited work than in any other. Many of the descriptions appears to be origi nal; but they are all too short and incomplete, and it is impossible to distinguish them from those that are merely translated: they appear calculated for beginners rather than botanists. They are followed with much propriety by useful observations on the localities, flowering, duration, and properties of each species.

This work is classed according to the Linnean sexual system, without any reference to natural classifications, affinities, and analogies. It is a general opinion at present among the majority of actual American botanists, that this obsolete system is calculated to offer facilities in the study of botany; this erroneous opinion arises probably from the ignorance of the real and preferable facilities afforded by the knowledge of the analyti cal analogies of plants; when these are better understood a different idea will certainly prevail. Pursh's Flora of North America was published in England on the same year with this Florula, and was therefore unknown to its author, who could not avail himself of the improve ments it contains: and it happens that these two authors seldom, if ever, interfere together.

Some new plants are introduced in this work, most of which are unknown and unnoticed by Pursh: the greatest proportion had been discovered and named by Dr. Muhlenberg; but are here described for the first time. Only twa new species appear to have been discovered, named and described by Dr. Bige low. They are:

Iris gracilis, Big. page 12. Flowers

beardless; leaves linear; stem round many flowered; germs triangular, twice grooved on the sides.

Bunias edentula, Big. p. 157. Leaves obovate, sinuate; silicles with two smooth, one seeded, toothless joints.

Those two plants are completely described by Dr. Bigelow: the following are those described by him, but adopted on the authority of Dr. Muhlenberg.

Gratiola aurea, Mg. Also adopted by Rafinesque and Pursh.

Scirpus acutus, Mg. Culm round, leafless, equal; spikes several, below the top, oblong somewhat umbelled. Big. p. 15. Spartina glabra, Mg. Spikes numerous, sessile, somewhat imbricated; valves of the calyx mostly glabrous. Big. p. 17. It belongs to the genus Limnetis of Per

soon.

Ranunculus fascicularis, Mg. Leaves ternate subpinnate; root fascicled. Big. P. 137.

Many other plants discovered by Dr. Muhlenberg had been described in the species plantarum of Wildenow, and adopted by Pursh, such as Epilobium coloratum, Carex varia, C. stipata, Hedysarum divergens, Lathyrus venosus, Polygala paucifolia, &c.

Several rare species are mentioned by Dr. Bigelow, which have been detected near Boston; we shall notice some of them, particularly those that had not yet been found so far north or south.

Monarda allophylla, Michaux.
Xyris Jupicai, Michaux.
Elymus virginicus, L.
Hordeum jubatum, Aiton.
Houstonia longifolia, Wildenow.
Cornus canadensis, L.
Lysimachia hybrida, Michaux.
Lobelia dortmanna, L.
Asclepias obtusifolia, Michaux.
verticillata, L.
Salsola caroliniana, Michaux.
Heracleum lanatum, Mich.
Angelica triquinata, Mich.
Viburnum nudum, Aiton.
Trillium cernuum, L.
Enothera pumila, L.
Rhododendron maximum, L.
Cassia chamecrista, L.
Pyrola secunda, L.

Silene pensylvanica, L.
Magnolia glauca, L. at Gloucester,
Cape Ann, its northern boundary.
Orchis psycodes, Wildenow.
fimbriata, Aiton.
Arethusa bulbosa, L.
Cypripedium acaule, Aiton.
Eriocaulon pellucidum, Mich.

Myrica cerifera, L.

Dicksonia pilosiuscula, Wild. This Florula is not faultless in nomenclature. We observe among the generic names, those of Centaurella adopted instead of Bartonia, Spartina instead of Limnetis, Hydropeltis instead of Brasenia; this preference is obviously erroneous, since the names preferred are either posterior or inadmissible. with pleasure that the genera Diervilla We notice and Sarothra, which had been annulled by some botanists without any plausible pretext, are here again introduced; but why are not the genera Ampelopsis and Hedeoma adopted likewise? they are certainly equally good.

In the nomenclature of species, some care appears to have been taken of collecting divergent synonymes; we will cite for instance the Lobelia pallida of Muhlenberg, which is noted as the Lobelia spicata of Lamark, while the Galium brachiatum, Mg. is the G. circezans of Michaux. In the English names of plants, many vulgar names peculiar to New England are happily introduced; they are always useful in local works, and serve to complete the natural history of nomenclative botany.

We must proceed to dwell upon a subject, which calls for the immediate and peculiar attention of our botanists, we allude to the prevailing custom of describing American species, under the names of different European species, upon the least appearance of similarity. This error has arisen from the superficial study of our plants, and has particularly been adopted by those who have not had the opportunity of comparing the plants of both continents, or who may have merely glanced upon them, instead of describing them minutely and comparatively. It is only among the plants of the arctic zone or polar regions that a real similarity exists, the same species being often spread over both continents, or in Europe, Asia, and North America. When some of our plants appear consimilar to the European plants unknown to the polar or boreal part of it, we must doubt of their identity, unless we have proofs that they have been naturalized. It is not sufficient to compare our specimens with drawings, plates, or specimens from Europe, which are often imperfect; but we ought to consult complete and accurate descriptions made on living plants, before we dare to identify them. It is evidently preferable to consider our plants as different, and give us consequently good des

criptions of them, rather than unite them with unsimilar foreign species, blending them upon slight affinities, overlooking their differences, and omitting to give us their descriptive history. Yet this has too often been done, since it is easier to decide at random or upon a mere glance, than to compare, discuss, and describe with mature attention. By these untoward means the progress of Botany has been prevented, and the complete knowledge of our plants greatly impeded.

In the Floras of Michaux and Pursh, several plants formerly considered as identical with European species have been distinguished; but many more demand a similar distinction. We find that in this Florula, even some of those separated by these authors and by Muhlenberg, are again united under an erroneous European denomination, and very badly described. We shall notice some of those mistaken attempts; we regret that we have not room to notice the whole of them.

The Salicornia herbacea, Big. is the S. virginica, L.

Callitriche aquatica, Smith, contains 5 or 6 European species; the species of Bigelow is neither of them.

Veronica scutellata, Big. is the V. uliginosa, Raf.

Circea lutetiana, Big. is C. canadensis, Raf. Pursh.

Plantago maritima, Big. is perhaps Pl. gibbosa, Raf. n. sp.

Galium aparine, Big. is G. aparinoides, Raf. The G. verum, Big. is certainly not that species, perhaps a new one.

Potamogeton natans, Big. is P. epihy drum, Raf.

Impatiens nolitangere, Big. is I. maculat um, Mg.

Statice limonium, Big. is St. caroliniana, Walt. Pursh.

Berberis vulgaris, Big. is B. canadensis, Raf. Pursh.

Saxifraga vernalis, Big. is S. virginiana, Michaux.

Dianthus armeria, Big. is probably D. armerioides, Raf.

Stellaria graminea, Big. is St. tenella, Raf. n. sp.

Geum rivale, Big. is G. nutans, Raf. n. sp.

Ranunculus fluviatilis, Big. is R.flabellaris, Raf. n. sp.

Xanthium strumarium, Big. is probably X. maculatum, Raf. n. sp.

Some other species, such as Potentilla anserina, P. argentea, Epilobium angustifolium, Atriplex patula, Agrimonia eupatoria, Alisma plantago, Myosotis Scorpioides, Lycopus europeus, &c. are probably in the same predicament; the plants described by Dr. Bigelow not being identical with the European species bearing those names.

Considering that this work is the first attempt of its author, we are satisfied that it is not an unhappy one, and by no means undeserving of the notice of our botanists it evinces talents and knowledge, which improved by experience and researches, may mature into real perspicuity and solid science. We recommend to its author a peculiar attention to natural affinities, critical nomenclature, liberality, assiduity, and minute observations; by those aids he will certainly improve himself, and his future works; which may thereby become extensively useful and valuable.

C. S. R.

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ART. 4. An Essay on Musical Harmony, according to the nature of that science, and the principles of the greatest musical authors. By Augustus Frederic Christopher Kollmann, Organist of his Majesty's German Chapel, St. James'. First American edition, with notes. Utica, Seward & Williams. 1817.

WERE

a judgment to be formed from the number of musical writers that have appeared in the United /States, and the quantity of original music that has issued from the press, within fifty years past, one would almost regard the appearance of a work which professes to teach the elements of composition, as a reflection on the musical science of the country. Where is the use, he might ask, of printing a book at this late period, to teach that which almost every master

of a singing school has learned to practice already? The best reply to this inquiry is a reference to the contents of our musical publications. Those who are most familiar with them will be convinced that our countrymen are not yet too far advanced in the theory of musical composition to derive benefit even from an elementary treatise; and will have only to regret that such a work has not earlier appeared, and been more generally dif fused.

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